Tex Perkins and The DarkHorses, Adalita @ The FactoryTheatre, Sydney (16/6/11)

Mon 20th Jun, 2011 in Gig Reviews

The music fans who came to watch Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses spanned three generations and the ever-charismatic Perkins provided something for all.

Former Magic Dirt frontwoman Adalita Srsen opened the show, although
with her left hand heavily bandaged, she had surrendered her guitar to an un-named male accomplice. Adalita walked on stage, stood at the mic and serenaded the room with the song Hot Air from her self-titled solo album. It was a sweetly-sung beginning to the set. Adalita’s second song, though, was the much darker and heavier-sounding track Invite Me. The chords and feedback grew thicker and fleshier, and the songstress looked visibly uncomfortable without the safety-net of a guitar to distract her from the intimate lyrics. Her voice, though, showed no signs of discomfort; it hummed along with the electric chords and rose with emotion.

Next was the equally sexy Fool Around, in which Adalita purrs “I – just – wanna – fool – around – with – you”. The dark and sexy atmosphere grew until the closer, Going Down. Adalita and her guitarist added another guitar loop for their seventh and final song: she spoke into the mic as the reverb filled the theatre in a repetitive and mesmerising cycle. The set was beautifully tense: a contrast between the tightly-strummed chords, a voice that evoked the full spectrum of emotions and sincere and powerful lyrics.

Tex and band changed the atmosphere with disorientating swiftness. Accompanied by long-time Dark Horses Charlie Owen and Joel Silbersher as well as new members, Steve Hadley, James Cookson and drummer Gus Agars, Tex immediately joked with the crowd when he took the stage. He leapt into the first song on the album What Do You Want Now.

Tex and the Dark Horses are known for their sinister-sounding take on country music and the first song was very much a country tune, highlighted by Tex on harmonica.
The second song was an equally-traditional country tune written by one of Tex’s long-time collaborators, Murray Patterson.

The third song of the set Looking At You But Seeing Her saw the Dark Horses hit their straps. It’s hard to remember who was on lead guitar because the band changed instruments after each song; if for no other reason than to show-off. That said, whoever it was punctuated the track with some cutting fret work that took the song in a rock ‘n’ roll direction.

The song finished to loud, approving applause and Tex said “Alright, it seems to be going along all right at the moment”, to much laughter. “You may see some flashed of brilliance but mostly I’ll be happy with a workman-like performance from me and the boys,” the frontman said to more laughter.

The next few songs were nostalgic country songs and musings Tex called “philosophical dead-ends”. You Haunt Me, picked up the pace again and the Dark Horses took on a little Crazy Horse. The piano keys cut through the jangling guitars and led the song at the bridge. Necessary Evil was another song bursting with instrumental brilliance: three guitars, keys, bass and drums in unison in an extended jam between verses. At every interval Tex told jokes. When he thanked Adalita for support and told the audience she had damaged her fingers by accidentally sticking them in a blender, it was hard to know if he was serious.

When the band walked off stage after 13 songs, the encore was a given considering the guitar tech was still on stage tuning. The second coming opened with Easier Without You, another dark and reflective country tune.

To close the night, though, Tex sang the last song on the album Things Don’t Seem So Bad After All. The lyrics and music took a steep turn upwards into the realm of optimism: After all, a man so fond of chatting with his fans and making them laugh couldn’t be as dark as he pretends.